It was surprising when Justin Hartley returned to daytime television as Adam Newman on The Young and the Restless, because he had been doing so well in primetime with roles on Mistresses, Revenge and Emily Owens, M.D. But the former Passions star knew something the rest of us didn’t know: He had an out for the right primetime television show and when he got the script for This Is Us, he knew it was the one.

“I’ve never read anything quite like it before and I thought, ‘Gee! If I have an opportunity to go do this, it would be wonderful,'” Hartely tells Parade.com in this exclusive interview. “So I just wanted to see what would happen. I was lucky enough to get it.”

In the ensemble drama, which is being called NBC’s new Parenthood, Hartley plays Kevin, an actor with a hit TV series titled The Manny, who is fed up with the lame scripts and the fact that he is always shirtless, who pines for better acting roles.

His twin sister Kate (Chrissy Metz) has a serious weight issue and, as is so often true in the case of twins – even fraternal ones, they have a very close bond and try to help each other through life’s crisis.

More than that can’t be revealed without giving away the twist that comes at the end of the first episode, but we did get a little more scoop from Hartley. Following is what he had to say in comparing his career and Kevin’s, the stories they will be telling, playing a twin, his upcoming indie movie and more.

I’m assuming you didn’t need to do a lot of research to play a character who’s an actor. But you’re obviously more successful than Kevin is. Was there something special about him that made you want to play him?

Here’s the thing, yeah, I’m not sure I am more successful than Kevin. You learn more about him as the series goes on. There is a really quick conversation when you learn more about his résumé. On paper, he’s had a successful acting career. You know how this stuff works, it’s like impossible to get on a show, so when you get on a show that’s successful and it runs for a few years, that’s like you just won the lottery.

So I’m not sure success-wise if I’m more successful than him. I think what’s happening is the combination of his age, where he is in his life, and him starting to become aware of how other people perceive him. And, I think, that’s what’s bothering him. I’m sure he’s like, “I’m on a show. It’s great. I’ll rework this character a little bit. We’ll make it a little less goofy, less about my body, more about the acting.” So he’s struggling with the fact that [his bosses are] just not interested in that.

So, I think, it’s partially due to his age, and partially due to where he is in his career, and partially due to the fact that he’s looking at his personal life. I don’t think he’s probably had any significant relationship that was anything that he could probably hold on to and say, “Man, if this girl leaves, I’ll be heartbroken. I really want to cherish this.” I think his only real relationship is with his sister. So a lot of that stuff I maybe don’t relate to, but I can certainly sit down and look at it and be like, “Oh, wow! That’s pretty deep. This guy’s got to get moving.”

Was there something special that you and Chrissy did in real life to achieve the chemistry you need to make the relationship real on screen?

Let’s see, is there anything that I did? I have a couple of friends who are twins that I asked questions, like: “Is it true that if one twin lives in New York and one lives in London, and one stabs their toe, do you feel that? Is there a thing there?” And oddly enough, I mean, you hear about it and it’s kind of bizarre, but it’s true. They told me, if there’s a crisis or a problem happening, they say they feel it. So, that’s kind of interesting.

I don’t have a twin, but I do have a brother and sisters, and I do know that there is a special bond there that is — I’m going to say – closer. It’s different. It’s closer than having a best friend. It’s easier to forgive them. I think it’s also easier to get mad at them. You feel a little piece of yourself in them. It’s one person on earth that you can talk smack about your parents to without feeling like you’re speaking bad about your parents. They just get it, right?

And I think Kevin and Kate have a sort of co-dependent relationship. It’s just a little unhealthy. They lean on each other for every single thing, and it’s a matter of trying to figure out, as adults, can they survive on their own and have their own lives as adults would?

Can you talk about the kinds of stories we’re going to see?

I can say that you’ll see that Kevin’s got to make a decision. Can he quit this wonderful, high-paying job? Like I said, on paper it’s wonderful. Does he fall in line, be a spoke-in-the-wheel, and do this thing and just say, “Well, this where I am?” Or does he, in fact, say, “No, forget it! This isn’t what I wanted. I am going to take myself seriously. I want other people to do the same and I’m going to pursue other avenues?” Which would produce many different conflicts, contractual and otherwise.

And then Kate’s being led around by this weight issue instead of taking control of it. She meets this guy and they do start to have a different perspective on how she can control her life and her happiness.

Also, Randall (Sterling K. Brown) has finally found his biological father. You’ll see that that changes so many things for him, in the way that he thinks about his future and his past. What he thought was so, “This is the way thing’s must have been,” he starts to realize that’s not at all what it was. And holy crap, here we go. He’s figuring out his identity, as well.

So, these characters go very, very deep into this, and it will keep you laughing, as well. I know everyone keeps saying, “Watch it with a box of tissues,” but it is funny as well.

This Is Us is being compared to Parenthood. Do you consider that a good thing because that was the last, really good family show that was on TV?

I think the interesting thing that people say is, “Well, it’s kind of like…,” and then they’ll pull out the word Parenthood. Then like just what you said, it’s so cool. You said, “Do you consider that a good thing because that was the last, best family drama that was on.” So, everybody liked it, and if you’re being compared to a show that was successful and everybody liked, that’s always a good thing.

I’ve also heard that it’s parallel to Modern Family a bit because they’re funny. [Executive producer] Dan [Fogelman] made a parallel comparison to Lost, which I think is pretty interesting. But, yeah, anytime you can be compared to a show that had success, found an audience, touched people, and that people are excited about, I think that’s a good thing.

In addition to this series, you have a movie called Another Time. Can you talk about that?

A friend of mine came to me with a script, which was really good actually. It was basically a love story and a time travel project. It’s like: Can you go back and live the life that you were supposed to live that something messed up along the way? Is that possible? It’s an interesting idea that if you did things differently, could you have had what you think you wanted, and then, if you go back, do you realize that’s not what you wanted in the first place?